


After Care

by Neroli66



Series: Tattoo verse [2]
Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen, Minor Jayne Cobb/Kaylee Frye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-13
Updated: 2006-04-13
Packaged: 2019-09-15 14:43:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16935186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neroli66/pseuds/Neroli66
Summary: Kaylee poked her head down into the hatchway, butterflies filling her stomach as she whispered softly."Jayne? You in there?" She knew he was, he'd stalked off midway through Simon's lecture about the un-sanitary nature of tattoo needles at the dinner table.





	After Care

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to [The Tattoo](http://tarnished-muse.livejournal.com/1175.html): The original story was inspired by Jewell's tattoo showing up in "The Message", even though it wasn't really supposed to. But it got me to thinking "what if Kaylee had one?".  
> Written for [](https://rinalin.livejournal.com/profile)[**rinalin**](https://rinalin.livejournal.com/) , she wanted cuddle fic while at work. Of course, I write slow so it wasn't finished until long after she got home, but it's still [](https://rinalin.livejournal.com/profile)[](https://rinalin.livejournal.com/)**rinalin** cuddle fic. Un-beta’d.
> 
> Takes place shortly after "War Stories", and I finally gave this fic a better title than "The Tattoo part 2".
> 
> Chinese:  
> wúnéug de rén - trash (despicable person)  
> chûnrén - fool, jerk (familiar)  
> shuài - handsome/snazzy

Kaylee poked her head down into the hatchway, butterflies filling her stomach as she whispered softly.

"Jayne? You in there?" She knew he was, he'd stalked off midway through Simon's lecture about the un-sanitary nature of tattoo needles at the dinner table.

Which was probably a good thing, from the look on his face it’d been between leaving the room or reaching across the table and slamming a fist into Simon’s face.

Though it was probably the glares Simon had been giving him that had drove him off more than the lecture itself. That had been directed her way.

Simon had'n't been pleased at all with her new tattoo. In fact, he'd flipped out in typical Simon fashion. Thankfully he’d done most of his more obnoxious ranting before dinner had been called.

Going on and on about how unsafe they was and why would she feel the need to mark up her pretty skin. Although, that little comment about her pretty skin had been nice to hear. She‘d almost been ready to forgive him for saying he could remove it until he opened his mouth again and told her that only _wúnéug de rén_ got tattoos. _Chûnrén_.

She knew he'd been talking about Jayne but damn it, she liked her tattoo and she liked Jayne's too. So what did that make her in Simon's eyes?

"Yeah, what'cha want?" she heard his voice grumble back up to her. With a sigh, she climbed down the ladder.

She glanced around curiously, she hadn’t never been in Jayne’s bunk before. It was cleaner than she’d expected. Although the naughty pictures taped up above the bed and the wall of guns and knives was pure Jayne.

The man himself was sitting on the edge of his bed staring at her with this dumbfounded expression on his face. She supposed he’d probably just expected her to tell him what she wanted and then head off on her merry without ever entering his private domain.

Of course, what she wanted--needed--required her to be a mite closer to him than the hatchway. She swallowed around the lump in her throat, wondering why she was suddenly so shy ‘round him. Not like this required him to see any more of her than he already had.

“I was hoping you could give me a hand,” she held out the jar of ointment the tattoo guy had insisted she get. “I need to put this on and I can’t reach back there.”  
  
A strange mix of emotions flashed across Jayne’s face, she’d swear she saw something as nervous as what she felt there for a second. Then they were gone and his expression had settled into a leer.

“Sure thing, Darlin’,” he drawled as he reached out to take it from her.

The light brush of warm, callused fingers against hers set off the butterflies again and Kaylee found herself wondering why she’d never noticed how _shuài_ he was before.

“Turn around,” he said, his voice suddenly deeper, gruffer than it had been a moment ago.

She could hear him clear his throat as she moved to stand in front of him and turned so that he could reach her back. There was a brief flash of warmth where his hand rested on her hip, just long enough to guide her back a step so she was standing between his knees.

There was a slight rustling behind her as he worked to open the jar and Kaylee wondered for a second if she shouldn’t have loosened it up first. Then with a soft grunt from Jayne and a pop from the seal, the jar was open.

Kaylee drew in a breath and waited, but he didn’t smooth it on immediately like she expected. She twisted around so she could see what was holding him up.

“Gotta let it warm up a bit first,” he muttered, his eyes were fixed on her lower back and a large glob of ointment rested on his fingers. And was that a faint hint of a _blush_ on his cheeks?

Kaylee pressed her lips tight to keep the giggle in and turned back around. It was kinda sweet that he’d thought about warming it up first, hadn’t even occurred to her that it’d be cold.

“Ready?” he asked from behind her and she nodded to let him know she was.

She could feel his hand though the soft cotton of her shirt as he pulled it up a little to get it out of the way.

“Hold that, will ya?” she wrapped her arms around herself and clasped the ends of her shirt as he asked. Once she had the garment held up for him, his hand moved down and started to gently work the ointment into her skin.

“Did ya even _try_ to do this on your own?” he chuckled slightly as he asked her. Kaylee knew he wasn’t all that close to her, but she could swear she felt his warm breath puffing lightly against her flesh.

She felt a flush creep along her cheeks, she hadn’t, not really. She’d realized she wouldn’t be able to see what she was doing in her small mirror and so she had headed straight over to Jayne’s bunk. Hadn’t even bothered opening the jar.

Weren’t no way she was gonna ask Simon for help after the things he’d said. Besides, his fingers wouldn’t be sliding so carefully over the still tender flesh on her back.

Jayne gently worked the ointment into the top half of the tattoo and then hooked one finger into her coveralls and pulled them down far enough to get to the lower half. The way he painstakingly covered every inch of the tattoo with ointment reminded her of the way he rubbed the gun oil onto his girls.

It shoulda made her feel funny to know he was touching her the same way he did his guns, but the thought was kinda endearing. She knew he loved his guns more than anything in the ‘verse ‘cept maybe his Ma. And here he was using the same care on her as he did with them.

And then he was hitching her pants back up with one hand and tugging her shirt down and out of her hands with the other.

“There ya go,” he said, his tone almost brusque enough to hide the huskiness.

She gave a yelp as he swatted her playfully on the rump. When she turned to glare down at him, he just leered up at her and she couldn’t stop herself from grinning back as she punched him in the shoulder. Jayne groaned in mock pain.

“That the kinda thanks I get, you can forget about me helping ya put it on in the morning,” he growled, but Kaylee could see the laughter in his eyes.

And maybe something else she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to see yet. But she knew he’d help again if she asked. Weren’t no doubt in her mind about that.

She leaned down and dropped a quick peck on his cheek before he could duck away, she didn’t even mind that he probably got a bit of a view down her shirt front while she did it.

“Thanks Jayne,” she gave him a brilliant smile before she turned to climb up the ladder to the hallway. She tucked the memory of his stunned expression and the way his hand had drifted up to where she’d kissed him away for pondering on later.

He really was crude and all, but at least when he’d broken the mood he hadn’t left her feeling all kinds of worthless.


End file.
